Prevention and successful treatment of chronic disease requires a scientific understanding of the impacts and interactions of ethnicity, culture, and illness on community based self-management interventions. The School of Nursing and Dental Hygiene, University of Hawaii at Manoa (SONDH) proposes to establish the P-20 Exploratory Center for 'Ohana Self-Management of Chronic Illness (COSMCI) to test feasibility of established family and community focused self-management interventions in ethnically diverse populations with chronic illnesses. Interdisciplinary partners in this effort include faculty from the Department of Public Health, John A Burns School of Medicine (JABSOM) Cancer Research Center of Hawaii (CRCH), and Tripler Army Medical Center (TAMC). The COSMCI administrative core with two sub-cores of research and evaluation, and three research projects will: 1) create an environment conducive to interdisciplinary Ohana self-management chronic illness research in ethnically diverse populations;2) develop sustainable interdisciplinary, biobehavioral research capacity;3) disseminate and translate knowledge generated;and 4) evaluate activities and outcomes. The COSMCI will use a social cognitive theory framework to guide understanding of the application of established self-management interventions to Asian and Pacific Island populations (API). Studies will employ comparable measures to create a Center database available for sharing with investigators in self-management research. The initial projects will use social learning theory as the framework to for three conceptually linked projects;1) self-efficacy and self-management for persons with symptomatic HIV disease;2) kalusagan ay kayamanan (health is wealth) type 2 diabetes prevention in Filipinos;and 3) a breathing pattern retraining self-management intervention with an interactive telecommunication system for persons with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). To leverage the NINR designation, the university and SONDH have committed support and fiscal resources to create a model approach to interdisciplinary research in self-management science with a focus on Asian and Pacific Islanders.